Rumor: iPhone 5 Won’t Ship Until 2012

The latest iPhone 5 rumor to surface won’t be welcome news for customers holding out for a mid-year release of the new iPhone.

Business Insider has recently reported that iPhone 5 production isn’t expected to begin until September, with an October release a best case scenario.

The report goes on to suggest that the iPhone 5 may not ship until 2012, with the inside information coming from an Avian Securities analyst, citing conversations with one of Apple’s “key component suppliers”.

There is always the chance that a low cost/low spec iPhone “nano” could be on the cards for 2011 in place of a major iPhone update.

The full transcript:

“Supporting out comments over the last month, conversations with yet another key component supplier indicates that production for iPhone-5 will begin in September. This is consistent with Avian findings in the supply chain in recent months and we believe the consensus view is moving towards this scenario. In addition, our conversations also indicate the existence of a lower-spec/lower-priced iPhone in Apple’s roadmap. However, while our contacts have seen the placeholder in the Apple roadmap, they do not yet have insight into specs or production timing. This leads us to believe that any launch is likely a very late 2011 or more likely a 2012 event. As a reminder, Avian has uncovered several data-points in recent months pointing to the existence of a lower-spec/lower-price iPhone. A lower-spec/lower-price iPhone has also been speculated in the press and gadget blogs, though we do not believe consensus currently discounts the existence of such a model.”